It's Crazy What You Could Have Had
-- a convention scenario by Simone Cooper, for the Amber DRPG
Current dispositions of the NPCs
Description: Seven years into Random's post-war reign, Amber and the Golden Circle prosper, yet life for those of the blood remains hard. Remnants of the Black Road and damage from the Shadow Storms of Corwin's and Oberon's works with the Jewel still bring danger to Amber's borders, while the townfolk, merchants and nobility sleep peacefully.
The role of you, the younger generation, now admitted and openly accepted in Amber, is perhaps even more difficult, as you tread the lines between your own futures and the cold wars of your parents. At least you live in the sure knowledge that opportunity will always come to those like you who are blood-bound to the Grand City and her reflections, so long as you have the vision to see.
Previously run at GenCon US 2002, ACNW 2002, ACUS 2003.
Characters: PLEASE DO NOT sign up for this game if you cannot e-mail or otherwise contact the GM in advancewith your 100-point, young adult Amber character (with Pattern for free), and then respond to some follow-up posts. PC's are the children of the major Elders of Corwin's chronicles with no advanced powers.
Characters can have been in Amber for a maximum of 14 years, including the 7 years of Gerard's regency and 7 years of Random's reign up to the present, and should have a reason to care about Amber and their role in it. Please start with a character sketch, rather than a detailed background, as the elders' personalities are quite specific to this game world.
Players who submit sketches by July 2 can use 10 additional points in character creation.
E-mail: simone (at) wyrdrune.com
Character Creation Guidelines: This game is highly dependent not only on player character interactions, but on your characters' perceptions of and past experiences with the elders, specific to THIS GAME'S CONTEXT. To make your game richer and your character decisions more meaningful, it is important for me to know about your characters in advance and develop a relevant past for them.
When creating your character, please do not say things like "Fred enjoyed his formative years playing hopscotch in the carefree home shadow of his hippy father, Julian." That is not to say that Julian is a bad man (would I say that? In his hearing?), but it is to say that the Elders are fully developed characters in this world. You and I will have to negotiate through your character development process together, so that your characters will feel fully a part of this game's Amber.
Perhaps you can see why we need to start this process a little early ;-)
So, what I would like to start with is a brief sketch of the character you would like to play. His or her ideals and motivations are far more important than specific historical incidents (which I hope we will get to) at this stage. You can pick a parent now, or you can tell me more about your character first, and I can help you with some choices of appropriate parents who might help your character develop that way.
Your characters are all YOUNG ADULTS (less than, say, 30 subjective years) who are blood of Amber but have been in Amber a relatively short time. Please develop a 100 point character with Pattern for free. There will be no Advanced powers, but you may put a few points into "further study" of some power if you wish to have more knowledge (rather than more ability) in that power.
I know it says in the game book to submit characters by July 2, but I would be grateful if you could start the process as soon as possible, rather than waiting 'til then.After characters are approved: Some introductions will be in order. As soon as I have your characters, I will send you each a (very) brief response, so you will have enough to say in your intro to the other players.
In your intros, you will reveal your characters' hopes for their future in Amber. Basically, we are assuming here that for whatever reason, at least once in your time in Amber you've let your guard down enough to let the others know what you really want to do. I'm not saying that this is what your Amber job actually is of course, it is only your aspiration, your hope, what they'd let you do if only they didn't have their heads up their... you get the idea.
Next I will ask you to send a description of your character including this dream goal, your age, how you were introduced to Amber and when (during or after Gerard's regency); perhaps also include what you like to do in your time off to give us an idea which characters might fraternize with one another.
1) Name, apparent age, Amber parent if known, and brief description
2) When and how you came to Amber
3) What position you are seeking or have received or have been given from the Crown (if you haven't heard from me on this yet, just answer the first part)
4) Where you go and what you do in your spare time
5) What you talk about when you're drunk with your cousins ;-) This is the dreams & wishes one, to the extent you've let it become known to them, as opposed to your elders.
If time permits I will also respond to each mail, giving a bit of the public face of Amber's reaction to each of you.
All characters will have been in Amber at least long enough to know one another. Trumps have been made of you for the Crown by Fiona as a matter of course. The sitting was... uncomfortable. The scrutiny was intense. On the other hand, Fiona takes the images for a Trump from her subjects in under five minutes. You get to see the completed art by the next day.
These Trumps have been copied for you by Fiona's student, Atlay. He is purportedly "of Shadow," and certainly has no family resemblence that you can see. He speaks an obscure language apparently related to the Greek of many Shadow Earths, plus a little Thari. He is never seen apart from Fiona. Origin aside, this means you all have Trumps of one another; if you wish to use Trumps of a different origin, let me know.
You have also been given Trumps of all the living Elders.
Place Trumps are rare-to-nonexistent; those of you studying Trump have found this a most perplexing problem. You know there are place Trumps in the old Dworkin decks. Trust me, you don't have one.Current dispositions of the NPCs:
Lord General Benedict: in Shadow; Premier General of Amber and General of the Amber Army
Prince Brand: oh so dead
Prince General Bleys: General of the Amber Expeditionary
Prince Admiral Caine: Premier Admiral of Amber and Admiral of the Southern Fleet
Prince Corwin, King of Argent: in the realms of his Pattern's Shadows
Lady Dara of Sawall: in Chaos
Princess Deirdre: dead as a very dead Deirdre; maybe keeping Brand company.
Dworkin: hasn't been seen; could have been made up by Corwin
King Eric: deader than Brand
Princess Flora: Minister of Foreign Affairs
Princess Fiona: Minister of Information; Dean of Amber College of Arts
Prince Finndo: extremely dead
Prince Admiral Gerard: Admiral of the Northern Fleet
Prince General Julian: General of the Arden Guard; Minister of Security
Princess Llewella: Ambassador to Rebma
Lord Mandor of Sawall: in Chaos
Crown Prince Martin: in Rebma or in Shadow with Benedict
Prince Merlin of Sawall: "The Prince of Three Realms;" in Chaos; comes to Amber for larger functions, usually when Corwin is not present
Queen Moire of Rebma: in Rebma
King Oberon: passed on, an ex-Amberite, pushing up daisies
Prince Osric: even more extremely dead
King Random: King of Amber
Prince Rinaldo of Kashfa aka Luke Reynard: under the protection of the Queen
Queen Vialle: Queen of Amber
Sand, Delwin, Mirelle: who?Schedule: I will be leaving for England on Wednesday, July 16 and will not have access to e-mail after that. We'll just do as much of this as we can until then. If you send anything near the time, please keep copies or maybe printouts for me to see.
e-mail the GM: simone (at) wyrdrune.com